Mark Twain is the most famous American writer of his period. He is known for his iconic appearance: as an elderly man in a white suit, with a mane of white hair, beetling eyebrows and a straggly moustache, with either cigar or billiard cue in hand. He is also remembered for his genius with the comic quip: ‘We ought never to do wrong when people are looking’, ‘Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to.’ But his writings are primarily responsible for his fame. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn stands at the foundations of an American vernacular literary tradition and his other best-known novels and travel-writings continue to be popular today.

The field of Twain biography and criticism is crowded, and his work and place in American literature continue to provoke argument and debate. The Cambridge Introduction to Mark Twain has been written to provide a starting guide to the author, his life, and some of his best works, and to reassess his reputation. Its intention is to present a clear and informative introduction that gives the reader a helpful entry point to the ongoing discussions his writings have provoked – many of them crucial to the field of American culture as a whole. The organisation of the book is straightforward. It starts with a brief outline of Twain's life and an overview of the historical and cultural context in which his writings can be placed.